Door Contest. ^.^
At my school, we've been having "Decorate Your Door!" contests throughout the year. I've never bothered to decorate mine because I was either too busy or too lazy. :) I'd had several ideas during the year, that if I'd been more motivated, I would have implemented, but meh... didn't want to bother.
Until this month. :D
The theme was Springtime. I honestly wasn't planning on participating in this last round at all, but on one of my many trips to NJ to the Books Sanseido store, I'd picked up 2 packets of origami paper with instructions included on how to make a variety of paper flowers. When I saw them on my desk, I realized.. hey! Japanese Club... spring time... Sakura blossoms!
So I looked through the book and found the instructions on how to make the flowers. Now, they were in Japanese, but luckily there were pictures that came with it. Only, when I tried to make it, it just didn't come out right. x.x; I followed the instructions for the folds as best as I could, but to no avail. That is, until I brought the book with me to karaoke one Sunday afternoon and made amefurift look at it and help me try to figure it out. It was a simple solution too... I was using the entire square of paper, but the directions called for a /half/ of a sheet. -.-; When I'd first looked at it, I thought it was a sheet that had been folded over, and that's why it was skinnier. But nope... it was only half. :) Once that was figured out... the flowers could be made!
So here is the result of the "experiment."
I made a sakura tree on my door, and then, I added one of Matsuo Basho's haikus on spring as well, figuring that since this door was representing the Japanese club, let's make it more "authentic."
The poem reads:
春もやや (harumo yaya)
景色整う (keshiki totonou)
月と梅 (tsuki to ume)
it is getting
a bit like spring
moon and plum
My students helped by making some of the flowers, but the flower petals were a little difficult to make in terms of the folds. :) Each flower is made of 5 petals, which I then glued together (technically, they were made so that there was a tab on one side of the petal and a slot on the other so you could just slide them together, but since they were going up on my door, I wanted to make them a little sturdier). They made many of the leaves, though, as that was the easier of the 2 pieces to make.
And guess what?
We won! XD
Not that there was any doubt, since most of the other doors weren't even decorated this time, and the ones that were... well, let's just say that mine was more intricate. ^.^b We got /many/ compliments on it.
So the cool thing that came out of it - we had a pizza party at lunchtime for the Japanese Club members. :) That was the best part, in my student's opinion. XD
And this Sunday, many of them are coming with me to Central Park where Japan Day will be celebrated. There will be lots of activities and shows there, as well as tidbits of free food so folks can try out Japanese cuisine. I'll probably post a report on it when I come back.
Oh! And for those of you wondering what ever happened to the Mezamashi TV thing, here is the latest email I received:
Liz,
The air date hasn’t been set yet but a producer in Tokyo and my boss are in talk.
For now, I’m not editing the clip unfortunately. Tokyo will.
I will send you a copy (actual broadcast) once the piece airs.
I apologize for keeping you guys waiting. I will contact you as soon as I find out
the date.
Thank you very much your understanding and patient.
So the good news is, I'll get a copy of the broadcast with the reporter comments and everything! I was really hoping I would not have to depend on someone in Japan recording it for me, and it looks like I don't have to. Yay! Of course the bad news is... it still hasn't aired! XD I wonder if that's secretly good news because they are in talks about bringing Arashi to NYC to surprise me at my school by filming an Arashi SP in NYC? Hey! A girl can dream, right?!? XD
Until this month. :D
The theme was Springtime. I honestly wasn't planning on participating in this last round at all, but on one of my many trips to NJ to the Books Sanseido store, I'd picked up 2 packets of origami paper with instructions included on how to make a variety of paper flowers. When I saw them on my desk, I realized.. hey! Japanese Club... spring time... Sakura blossoms!
So I looked through the book and found the instructions on how to make the flowers. Now, they were in Japanese, but luckily there were pictures that came with it. Only, when I tried to make it, it just didn't come out right. x.x; I followed the instructions for the folds as best as I could, but to no avail. That is, until I brought the book with me to karaoke one Sunday afternoon and made amefurift look at it and help me try to figure it out. It was a simple solution too... I was using the entire square of paper, but the directions called for a /half/ of a sheet. -.-; When I'd first looked at it, I thought it was a sheet that had been folded over, and that's why it was skinnier. But nope... it was only half. :) Once that was figured out... the flowers could be made!
So here is the result of the "experiment."
I made a sakura tree on my door, and then, I added one of Matsuo Basho's haikus on spring as well, figuring that since this door was representing the Japanese club, let's make it more "authentic."
The poem reads:
春もやや (harumo yaya)
景色整う (keshiki totonou)
月と梅 (tsuki to ume)
it is getting
a bit like spring
moon and plum
My students helped by making some of the flowers, but the flower petals were a little difficult to make in terms of the folds. :) Each flower is made of 5 petals, which I then glued together (technically, they were made so that there was a tab on one side of the petal and a slot on the other so you could just slide them together, but since they were going up on my door, I wanted to make them a little sturdier). They made many of the leaves, though, as that was the easier of the 2 pieces to make.
And guess what?
We won! XD
Not that there was any doubt, since most of the other doors weren't even decorated this time, and the ones that were... well, let's just say that mine was more intricate. ^.^b We got /many/ compliments on it.
So the cool thing that came out of it - we had a pizza party at lunchtime for the Japanese Club members. :) That was the best part, in my student's opinion. XD
And this Sunday, many of them are coming with me to Central Park where Japan Day will be celebrated. There will be lots of activities and shows there, as well as tidbits of free food so folks can try out Japanese cuisine. I'll probably post a report on it when I come back.
Oh! And for those of you wondering what ever happened to the Mezamashi TV thing, here is the latest email I received:
Liz,
The air date hasn’t been set yet but a producer in Tokyo and my boss are in talk.
For now, I’m not editing the clip unfortunately. Tokyo will.
I will send you a copy (actual broadcast) once the piece airs.
I apologize for keeping you guys waiting. I will contact you as soon as I find out
the date.
Thank you very much your understanding and patient.
So the good news is, I'll get a copy of the broadcast with the reporter comments and everything! I was really hoping I would not have to depend on someone in Japan recording it for me, and it looks like I don't have to. Yay! Of course the bad news is... it still hasn't aired! XD I wonder if that's secretly good news because they are in talks about bringing Arashi to NYC to surprise me at my school by filming an Arashi SP in NYC? Hey! A girl can dream, right?!? XD